As The Handmaid's Tale comes to an end, the Hulu series' showrunner publicly addressed what happened to June's daughter Hannah (played by Jordana Blake). In the show's gripping finale, Elizabeth Moss' June took the spotlight for one last time. A significant component of this final chapter for the longtime TV character were flashes back to her interacting with her estranged daughter (who is now living in Colorado with Jason Butler Harner's Commander Mackenzie) in a time before the rise of Gilead, but in the present timeline, it was made unclear if the mother-daughter pair ever got to see each other again.
Coming off of the Handmaid's Tale series finale, showrunner Yahlin Chang explained why June and Hannah never reunited by the end of the show, pointing to an adaptation of Magaret Atwood's sequel book, The Testaments, as one of the primary reasons that it did not happen.
It has already been confirmed that despite not crossing paths with her mother in the mainline series, Hannah will return to the franchise in the upcoming Testaments series, which is in development at Hulu (via The Hollywood Reporter).
According to Chang, the development of that series was a big reason why fans did not get to see Hannah and June see each other again in The Handmaid's Tale proper.
In a conversation with The Los Angeles Times, Chang let slip that the final scene of June recording a monologue about everything that had just happened was originally the "penultimate scene," with some assuming this originally meant the mother-daughter duo reuniting was initially envisioned as the show's final scene:
"Originally, Bruce envisioned it as the penultimate scene, but it became the ultimate scene because it became so clear, in my head anyway, that June was telling the story to Hannah and for Hannah, and that the whole series we’ve been watching has actually been her story to Hannah."
However, she added that their " hands were tied," and they "could not bring June and Hannah together because of The Testaments:"
"Given that our hands were tied, unfortunately, and we could not bring June and Hannah together because of 'The Testaments,' which was something that we really struggled with — I struggled with, speaking for myself — not giving people what they wanted or what I wanted, the idea of her telling the story to Hannah was just so emotionally captivating."
"There’s this whole sequel that focuses on Hannah," Chang continued, justifying why the mainline series could end without resolving her story specifically:
"I don’t think that Bruce was so worried about not seeing Hannah. There’s this whole sequel that focuses on Hannah. And Lizzie had a big part of this too; she influenced the writing of this scene between June and Holly [June’s mother, portrayed by Cherry Jones], where it evolved into a scene where Holly says, 'This story is for the people who have lost, who have not gotten their children back; this is for them.'"
Putting even more focus on The Testaments as a place for fans to look to for more of Hannah's story, Chang told The Hollywood Reporter, "We wanted June to get Hannah back," but "Margaret [Atwood] wrote this sequel, and there was this other TV show that started [production]:"
"We wanted June to get Hannah back. We really, really did. We wanted the story to go there, but Margaret wrote this sequel and there was this other TV show that started [production]. Because of that, our hands were tied and we were not able to bring June and Hannah together. That was probably the biggest, hardest thing we had to deal with."
And it is not just the people behind the camera who have been out and about discussing Hannah and June's failure to reunite in the mainline series.
Star Elizabeth Moss has addressed the prospect several times after the show's end. In an interview with Variety, Moss posited that fans upset about the pair not crossing paths one last time in The Handmaid's Tale need to "Talk to Margaret Atwood," as it was the release of her sequel novel in 2019 that pushed their reunion down the line:
"Talk to Margaret Atwood. It definitely is something we have carried with us since 'The Testaments' came out, knowing that wasn’t going to be an ending. That was a choice that Margaret made that we, of course, followed, and I don’t know if we would have done it if she hadn’t written 'The Testaments' I really have no idea, but I can’t imagine it any other way. I think if there was no 'Testaments,' this would be a very different experience for me."
She said that their challenge in crafting the finale was "to be loyal to what Margaret decided to do" but also "honor Hannah’s presence" in whatever way they could:
"Our challenge was to be loyal to what Margaret decided to do, but at the same time honor Hannah’s presence. There is literally no one more aware of the audience’s desire for June to get Hannah back than me. It is the number one question I’m asked. It is the number one thing people want. I don’t want to call it a burden, but I’ve carried this question with me for many years. And I want to say to every single person who says to me 'Please tell me she gets her daughter back,' like, I get what you’re feeling, but that doesn’t happen in Margaret’s sequel."
Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Moss and Bruce Miller, the showrunner of the first five seasons, discussed bringing Hannah back in the finale but not getting to see her and June interact.
Miller admitted, "I hope June does get Hannah back," but knew this was not the time to do it:
"Oh, my gosh. Yes. One of the things I always thought is that little girl looks so much like her. We had talked from the beginning, and a lot of it was about building Naomi and Janine to the point where that would happen. Building to where Naomi knows the one thing about Janine is that Janine is really tough, which she needs to know when she’s [giving her daughter back]. Listen, I hope June does get Hannah back. But I’m hoping that people feel like this is the ending to Janine’s story [that she deserves]. The fact that I’m not going to be able to work with or see Maddie Brewer every day is impossible to say out loud."
He also mentioned he "hope[s]" June shows up in The Testaments and is "still doing what she was doing in The Handmaid’s Tale:"
"That’s a good thing to hope for. I hope she shows up there, too. She’s still doing her job, still doing what she was doing in 'The Handmaid’s Tale'. Luke and Moira are still out there somewhere, ringing the bell to get Hannah back. The beauty of having watched 'The Handmaid’s Tale' is that you understand there’s this huge operation of people who are out there who care and who are risking themselves to get to reunite with their children. The people in 'The Testaments' show don’t feel that. But from experiencing 'Handmaid’s,' you know there’s this whole operation. So is June influencing 'The Testaments?' Absolutely."
After six seasons (and over eight years), The Handmaid's Tale has ended, with the entire series now streaming on Hulu. This season starred Elizabeth Moss once again as the revolutionary figure June, who fights against a society that uses fertile women as enslaved people to reproduce with the world's totalitarian regime.
Thankfully, even though the mainline series is over, more is coming. The Testaments is a new sequel series in development from MGM and Hulu, based on The Handmaid's Tale author's 2019 book of the same name.
Does June Get Hannah Back in the Book?
For fans itching to know what will happen between Hannah and June, there are some resources out there that may reveal exactly that.
In the original Handmaid's Tale novel, June's story ends similarly to the way it did in the show. Hannah is mentioned one last time at the end of the book, and the franchise's main character does not get to reunite with Hannah but opts to continue her long-running resistance efforts in hopes of providing a better life for the eldest daughter.
However, that does change in The Testaments. In the 2019 novel, the spotlight is turned on June's daughter, Hannah, a member of the next generation of young women living in Gilead.
The book picks up 15 years after the first novel's events, following Hannah (who now goes by Agnes) as she becomes involved in the resistance that her mother was so intrinsically tied to, still trying to topple the authoritarian power structure that lay before them.
As a part of this novel, Hannah finally crosses paths with her mother, June, again. This comes following a scathing media leak from above the border which brings about the fall of the Gileadan elite.
As Gilead falls and freedom begins to become a reality in the United States once again, June and Hannah have another moment together, enjoying the fruits of their revolutionary labor.
If the sequel TV series closely follows the book's events, one can assume this reunion will happen on-screen, and Elibath Moss' long-standing Handmaid's Tale figurehead will get the mother-daughter moment she has been waiting for (read more about The Testaments here).
